You have tip your cap to Camarillo resident's hat collection

You have to tip your cap to Camarillo resident's collection

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR
Vincent Wutkee, of Camarillo, looks over is collection of college baseball hats. The collection, which numbers nearly 230, includes all 113 teams that have participated in the College World Series as well as a few obscure teams that he has found over the years.
06/08/13 Camarillo, CA

Ventura County Star

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR
Vincent Wutkee of Camarill, maintains a digital catalog of his college baseball hat collection, including when he acquired each hat and how. The collection, which numbers nearly 230, includes all 113 teams that have participated in the College World Series as well as a few obscure teams that he has found over the years.

Ventura County Star

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR
Vincent Wutkee of Camarillo has a college baseball hat collection numbering nearly 230. The collection represents every team that has participated in the College World Series, as well as a few obscure teams that he has found over the years.

Ventura County Star

ANTHONY PLASCENCIA/THE STAR
Vincent Wutkee of Camarillo has a college baseball hat collection numbering nearly 230. The collection represents every team that has participated in the College World Series, as well as a few obscure teams that he has found over the years.

Ventura County Star

It started with just one hat.

Vincent Wutkee was serving a Mormon mission in Louisiana in 1989 and decided to buy a Louisiana State University baseball hat.

Wutkee was a big fan of baseball, and LSU's program was one of the best in the nation.

Over the next few months, Wutkee picked up a few other college baseball hats and decided to start a collection.

At first, he wanted to have a hat representing every letter of the alphabet.

Then, he wanted to have a hat representing a school from every state.

Eventually, Wutkee wanted to have a hat representing every team that ever participated in the College World Series.

It took him a few years, a few dollars and a few emails, but Wutkee, 45, has reached the pinnacle of the college baseball hat world.

He has hats representing all 113 College World Series teams hanging on a pegboard in the garage of his Camarillo home.

"I have always followed the College World Series because of LSU, and would see all the different hats each team wore and thought it would be cool to be able to have every one," Wutkee said. "It became my hobby and kind of a goal for me over the years."

The College World Series began on Saturday in Omaha, Neb., and Wutkee's beloved LSU Tigers are returning for the 16th time. They begin play against UCLA on Sunday.

The only team in this year's field making its first appearance is Indiana, and Wutkee already had an Indiana baseball hat in his collection.

Ironically, Wutkee has never attended the College World Series in person.

"It's on the bucket list," said Wutkee, a married father of four. "But there are a lot of things on the bucket list."

He has a smaller pegboard on the adjacent garage wall reserved exclusively for his multitude of LSU hats.

Wutkee has become somewhat of a hat expert through his quest.

He knows the size and fit of each different company and the quality of their products.

Wutkee has specific requirements for his collection.

He wants the exact hat each college baseball team wears, which can be different from the mass-produced hats sold in stores. He also tries to get each hat in his size — 7¼ — so he can wear them around.

Wutkee didn't have a problem obtaining hats for the major programs that have appeared in the CWS.

It was the more obscure schools like Springfield College, Ithaca and Lafayette College that were a challenge.

When Wutkee couldn't find the hats online or at stores, he started emailing coaches with requests.

"I explained what I was trying to do, and asked if they would let me buy one of their hats," Wutkee said. "Some schools sent me free hats and some I would send about $30 to buy one."

It took Wutkee quite a while to acquire his Tufts University hat. He emailed the coaching staff every three months for nearly a year.

"After the fourth email, the coach wrote back and said, ‘I admire my persistence. Send me your address,' " Wutkee said. "He sent me a hat for free, which was great."

Through his email requests, Wutkee developed a relationship with Washington State baseball coach Donnie Marbut.

"He figured I must really love college baseball if I was doing this, so he gave me his phone number and said to give him a call sometime so we can talk baseball and sent me a hat," Wutkee said. "He has helped me get some hats from other schools because he knows other coaches around the country. Now, I'm an LSU fan and a Washington State fan as long as they don't play LSU."

When he first married his wife, Lael, Wutkee had only 30 hats in the collection.

The newlyweds would arrange them to spell messages to each other on the wall. The only letter Wutkee is still missing after all these years is Q.

"There are colleges that have QU, but never just a Q," he said. "I have been looking all over the place, but I can't find one anywhere."

Wutkee teaches social studies at Los Cerritos Middle School in Thousand Oaks, and wears a different hat to school each day.

"It's kind of like a woman. I look at what I'm wearing and see what will match my outfit," he said. "If I know I'm wearing blue that day, I'll pick a blue hat."

Wutkee doesn't treat his hats like antiques. He keeps them out in the open and lets his family borrow them.

"I don't want them in a plastic case. They are hats and I want to wear them," Wutkee said. "Some of them are dingy from the car exhaust and some have faded over time from the light streaming in through the windows."

Wutkee's daughter, Shain, 16, is the family member most likely to borrow his hats to wear around.

"Being raised by him, you can't help but like hats," she said. "It's just something I have been around my whole life, and I started to like wearing them."

Wutkee never misses a chance to have a little fun with his hats. He wore his University of New Orleans hat when Shain went on her first date.

He figured the "NO" on the hat would send the proper message to her suitor.

Although the LSU hats are Wutkee's favorite, he has a fondness for a few others.

"I really love Long Beach State. Their baseball logo is just classic; it is just beautiful," he said. "A personal favorite is West Virginia because my initials are VW and their hat has a V overlapping with the W."

Wutkee purchases about 5-15 hats per year, either buying new schools or updating old ones.

He saves money in other areas to help pay for his collection. He doesn't have a cellphone or cable TV.

But most important, he has a very understanding wife.

"She is really supportive," he said. "Plus, she is a quilter, so my hat collection will never cost as much as her fabric stash."

The most recent addition to Wutkee's collection came in the mail a few weeks ago. Central Michigan represents college No. 205.

Wutkee doesn't plan to stop collecting any time soon. He is already devising ways to squeeze even more hats onto the pegboard.

"There are still a lot of good baseball programs on my list I want to get," Wutkee said. "I don't really want it to end because it's a lot of fun for me."